The charity's annual review of persecution trends found it will increase because of extremist groups such as IS and Boko Haram, and also under authoritarian governments which regard Christians as a threat and even enemies of the state.

Paul Robinson continued: "Under militant Islam Christians are being driven out from their countries and their communities.

"And authoritarian governments are driving Christians underground.

"Christians are being forced out of the Middle East - the very birthplace of the faith.

"Yet in the current refugee crisis, it is all too easy to overlook the religious dimension to the massive displacement taking place."

Release Internal is warning that Christians have been targeted in Syria, Iraq and Nigeria as well as Kenya and Tanzania, to name a few.

More half of Syria's 1.4 million Christians have fled the country.

In Nigeria, terrorists including Boko Haram have killed more than 14,000 people since 2013 and more than 60,000 people have been driven from their homes.

Pakistan is another area that Release International has raised concern over.

It claims that Christians regularly come into conflict with the country's blasphemy laws.

China is also on the list of countries that can be hostile towards believers. In 2015 it rounded up and detained some of its key human rights lawyers, and it has implemented a policy of demolishing churches and tearing down their crosses for several crosses now.